I expected this team to handle their first round matchup, but they had a very difficult potential matchup in the second round. So, a deep run in this tournament was not expected.

1st Round:

Defeated 37th-seeded ’05-’06 Atlanta Thrashers, 4-2 after being down 2-1

2nd Round:

Swept by 5th-seeded ’83-’84 Edmonton Oilers, 4-0

Under Todd McLellan, the ’09-’10 San Jose Sharks posted a 51-20-11 record, which was good for 113 points and 1st in the Pacific Division. They were ranked fourth in the league in goals for with 264 and seventh in the league in goals against with 215. Hockey Reference ranked San Jose’s strength of schedule at 11th in the league, but their SRS rating system had San Jose as the third best team in the league that year. They faced the Colorado Avalanche in the Conference Quarterfinals and defeated them in six games. Next, they defeated the Detroit Red Wings in five games to advance to the Conference Finals for just the second time in their history. However, in the Conference Finals, they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season, the Sharks would advance to the Conference Finals, but again would not make it out of them.

Their offense was led by the trio of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley. ‘Big Joe’ led the team in points with 89, Marleau was second with 83 and Heatley was third with 82. Marleau led the team in goals with 44 and Heatley was second with 39. Joe Pavelski was third on the team in goals with 25 in just 67 games. Thornton also led the team in assists with 69. Heatley was tied with defenseman Dan Boyle for second on the team in assists with 43. Marleau was third in assists with 39, but also co-led the team in plus/minus with a +21 rating. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic also posted a +21 rating. Thornton and Manny Malhotra were tied for second in plus/minus with ratings of +17. Heatley and defenseman Rob Blake were tied for third with plus/minus ratings of +14. The Sharks depended a lot on goaltender Evgeni Nabokov who was a real workhorse for the squad. He appeared in 71 games and earned 44 wins. He also posted a 2.43 goals against average and a .922 save percentage with three shutouts.